Fluid mechanics Assistan

nt Lecturer Anees
A Kadh
hum AL – Saadi
S

Curved
d Surfaces
s
For curvved surfacees the fluidd pressure on the infiinitesimal areas
a are not
n parallell and
so mustt be comb i usual too consider the total horizontal and
bined vectoorially. It is
vertical force com
mponents off the resulttant.
Surfacee Containiing Liquid
d
Consideer the surfaace AB whhich containns liquid as
a shown below:

• Horizontal Component
Using the
t imagin
nary planee ACD we can imm
mediately see that the horizoontal
componnent of forcce on the suurface musst balance with the horizontal force
f FAC .
Hence:
Fx = Force on projectionn of surfacee
onto a vertical
v plaane
FX mustt also act at the sam
me level as
a FAC andd so it actts through the centrre of
pressuree of the pro
ojected surrface.

Universitty of Babylon
n College of Engineeringg Departmen
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Fluid mechanics Assistant Lecturer Anees Kadhum AL – Saadi

• Vertical Component
The vertical component of force on the surface must balance the weight of
liquid above the surface. Hence:
Fy = Weight of liquid directly
above the surface
Also, this component must act through the centre of gravity of the area ABED,

shown as G on the diagram.

• Resultant

The resultant force is thus:

F=

This force acts through the point O when the surface is uniform into the page, at
an angle of:
F
θ = tan
F

to the horizontal. Depending on whether the surface contains or displaces water

the angle is measured clockwise (contains) or anticlockwise (displaces) from
the horizontal

University of Babylon College of Engineering Department of Environment

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Fluid mechanics Assistan
nt Lecturer Anees
A Kadh
hum AL – Saadi
S

Surfacee Displacin
ng Liquid
Consider the su
urface AB which displaces liquuid as show
wn below:

• Horizontal Component
Similarlly to the prrevious casse, the horiizontal com
mponent off force on the
t surfacee
must baalance with
h the horizoontal forcee FEB . Hennce again:

Force on projecttion of surfface

Fx =
onto a vertical plane

Thiss force also

o acts at thee same level as FEB as
a before.

• Vertical
V Co
omponentt
In thhis case wee imagine that
t the areea ABDC iss filled witth the samee liquid. Inn this
case Fy would balance thhe weight of
o the liquid in area ABDC.
A Hennce:
Fy = Weight
W of liiquid whicch
would lie above thhe surface
Universitty of Babylon
n College of Engineeringg Departmen
nt of Environ
nment
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Fluid mechanics Assistan
nt Lecturer Anees
A Kadh
hum AL – Saadi
S

This component acts

a througgh the centtre of gravvity of the imaginaryy liquid in area
ABDC, shown as G on the diagram.
d
The resuultant force is calculaated as beffore.
Both off these situaations can be summeed up with the follow
wing diagram:

Curved
d Surfaces
s – Examp
ple
Problem
m
Determine the resultant forcce and its direction
d onn the gate shown:
s

Universitty of Babylon
n College of Engineeringg Departmen
nt of Environ
nment
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Fluid mechanics Assistant Lecturer Anees Kadhum AL – Saadi

Solution
The horizontal force, per metre run of the gate, is that of the surface projected onto
a vertical plane of length CB:
Fx=ρgACB CB

=103 x 9.81 x (6 x 1) x ( )

= 176.6 kN
And this acts at a depth h = . 6 = 4 m from the surface. The vertical force is the

weight of the imaginary water above AB:

Fy =103 x 9.81 1
= 277.4 kN
In which is the area of the circle quadrant. The vertical force is located at:

X= = = 2.55 m

to the left of line BC. The resultant force is thus:

F=

= 176.62 277.42
= 328.8 kN

And acts at an angle:

F
θ = tan
F

.
θ = tan
.

= 57.5°

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Fluid mechanics Assistant Lecturer Anees Kadhum AL – Saadi

measured anticlockwise to the horizontal. The resultant passes through point C.

Also, as the force on each infinitesimal length of the surface passes through C,
there should be no net moment about C. Checking this:

Σ Moments about C = 0
176.6 x 4 - 277.4 x 2.55 = 0
706.4 - 707.4 0
The error is due to rounding carried out through the calculation.

Problems – Fluid Action on Surfaces

1. You are in a car that falls into a lake to a depth as shown below. What is the
moment about the hinges of the car door (1.0 × 1.2 m) due to the hydrostatic
pressure? Can you open the door? What should you do?

(Ans. 50.6 kNm, ?, ?)

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Fluid mechanics Assistant Lecturer Anees Kadhum AL – Saadi

2. A sluice gate consist of a quadrant of a circle of radius 1.5 m pivoted at its

centre, O. When the water is level with the gate, calculate the magnitude and
direction of the resultant hydrostatic force on the gate and the moment required to
open the gate. The width of the gate is 3 m and it has a mass of 6 tonnes.

(Ans. 61.6 kN, 57°, 35.3 kNm)

3. The profile of a masonry dam is an arc of a circle, the arc having a radius of 30
m and subtending an angle of 60° at the centre of curvature which lies in the water
surface. Determine: (a) the load on the dam in kN/m length; (b) the position of the
line of action to this pressure.

(Ans. 4280 kN/m, 19.0 m)

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Fluid mechanics Assistant Lecturer Anees Kadhum AL – Saadi

4. The face of a dam is curved according to the relation y=x2 /2.4 where y and x are
in meters, as shown in the diagram. Calculate the resultant force on each metre run
of the dam. Determine the position at which the line of action of the resultant force
passes through the bottom of the dam.

(Ans. 1920 kN, 14.15 m)

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